The embryonic period of China's ancient philosophy can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, during which many important classic works appeared, among which the two most representative ones were The Analects of Confucius and The Tao Te Ching.
1, The Analects of Confucius:
The Analects of Confucius is a collection of quotations compiled by disciples and re-disciples of Confucius, a thinker and educator in the Spring and Autumn Period. Written in the early Warring States period.
The book * * * consists of 20 chapters and 492 sections, which embodies the political opinions, ethical thoughts, moral concepts and educational principles of Confucius and Confucianism.
Most of the works are quotations, and their main features are concise language, easy to understand and far-reaching implications. They have an elegant and gentle style, and can express characters in simple dialogues and actions.
The Analects of Confucius was written by Confucius disciples as well. Its works can be traced back to the beginning.
As a Confucian classic, The Analects is profound and all-encompassing, and its thoughts mainly include three independent and closely dependent categories: ethics-benevolence, social and political category-courtesy, and cognitive methodology category-the mean.
2. Tao Te Ching:
Laozi's philosophical works in the Spring and Autumn Period, also known as Tao Te Ching, Laozi's 5,000 Words and Laozi's 5,000 Articles, are the works of China before the separation of pre-Qin philosophers in ancient times, and are important sources of Taoist philosophical thoughts.
Tao Te Ching is divided into two parts. The first part of the original text is the Tao Te Ching, and the second part is the Tao Te Ching, without chapters. Later, it was changed to the Tao Te Ching in the first 37 chapters, and the Tao Te Ching in the last 38 chapters, divided into 8 1 chapters.
The text of Tao Te Ching takes "morality" in the philosophical sense as the main line, and discusses the ways of self-cultivation, governing the country, using troops and keeping in good health, but most of them aim at politics. It is the so-called "inner sage and outer king", known as the king of all classics, with profound meaning and wide tolerance.
Tao Te Ching is one of the greatest works in the history of China, which has a profound influence on traditional philosophy, science, politics and religion. According to the statistics of UNESCO, the Tao Te Ching is the most widely translated and published cultural masterpiece except the Bible.